This Time, It’s a Little Easier for Georgia Tech

After winning two straight squeakers, Georgia Tech avoided another tense ending.

Joe Hamilton passed for 212 yards and three touchdowns and added 83 yards on the ground before sitting out the final quarter as the No. 7 Yellow Jackets cruised past North Carolina State, 48-21, Saturday in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Atlanta.

Hamilton’s scoring passes covered 11 and 39 yards to Kelly Campbell and three yards to Kerry Watkins. Campbell also scored on a 17-yard run as Georgia Tech, 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the ACC, won its fifth in a row.

In its previous two games, Tech beat North Carolina, 31-24, in overtime and downed Duke, 38-31, in games the Yellow Jackets were heavily favored to win.

Hamilton’s three scoring passes gave him 53 for his career, breaking the Tech record of 51 set by Shawn Jones from 1989-1992.

Sean Gregory rushed for 116 yards in 21 carries, including a two-yard scoring run on Tech’s second possession of the game.

Jamie Barnette accounted for two touchdowns for the Wolfpack (5-4, 2-4), an 80-yard pass play to Koren Robinson that cut Tech’s lead to 14-7 in the second quarter and a 10-yard run on a broken play.

Clemson 12, Wake Forest 3--Brandon Streeter, idle for the last month with a broken collarbone, came off the bench in the fourth quarter to rally the Tigers (4-4, 4-2) over the Demon Deacons (4-4, 1-4) at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Clemson, under first-year Coach Tommy Bowden, has already surpassed last season’s victory total.

Clemson’s Woodrow Dantzler completed 22 of 32 passes for 201 yards, but the starting quarterback couldn’t get his team into the end zone and was replaced by Streeter with 9:49 left.

Streeter, playing for the first time since being injured against North Carolina on Oct. 2, almost had his first pass intercepted. But he rebounded to complete passes of 33 and 31 yards to move the Tigers into range for a 41-yard field goal by Tony Lazzara and a 5-3 lead.

An interception by Clemson’s Dextra Polite on Wake Forest’s first play after the field goal led to a one-yard touchdown by Streeter with 1:18 left to play.

Duke 25, Maryland 22--Spencer Romine passed for a career-high 404 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner to Scottie Montgomery with 1:42 left, as the Blue Devils (2-6, 2-3) rallied to upset the Terrapins (5-3, 2-3) at College Park, Md.

Duke trailed, 22-17, before Romine guided the Blue Devils on a 70-yard, 12-play drive. Facing fourth and goal from the 14, Romine hit Montgomery over the middle for the decisive score.

Furman 28, North Carolina 3--Justin Hill threw two touchdown passes to Des Kitchings and ran for a score as the Paladins (7-1), the leader in the Division I-AA Southern Conference, beat the Tar Heels (1-7) at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Furman last beat a I-A opponent in 1985--42-20 over North Carolina State. It was North Carolina’s first loss to a I-AA school.